Voting Rights Act

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Court Ruling May Weaken Voting Rights Act

NAACP official calls decision a 'travesty for democracy'

(Newser) - A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that voting rights advocates say could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law....

Supreme Court Delivers Bad News to Alabama GOP

SCOTUS will allow redrawing of congressional map to go forward, over state's objections

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the drawing of a new Alabama congressional map with greater representation for Black voters to proceed, rejecting the state's plea to retain Republican-drawn lines that were struck down by a lower court. In refusing to intervene, the justices, without any noted dissent, allowed...

Surprise SCOTUS Ruling Hands Victory to State's Black Voters

Decision orders creation of second Black-majority district in Alabama

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population, per the AP . Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court's liberals in...

Biden Advocates Voting Rights on Selma Pilgrimage

'The threshold of democracy' is at stake, president says in address marking 'Bloody Sunday'

(Newser) - Marking the 58th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when Alabama state troopers clubbed and tear-gassed peaceful marchers opposing discrimination, President Biden returned to advocate new voting rights legislation. The violence that day at the Edmund Pettus Bridge outraged many Americans and helped lead to passage of the 1965 Voting...

Supreme Court Heads Off Second Black District for State

Justices block lower court ruling over Voting Rights Act issues in Louisiana

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold a lower court ruling that Louisiana must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections to increase Black voting power. As a result, Louisiana's November congressional elections will be held using a Republican-drawn map with white majorities in five of...

Voting Rights Bill Collapses
Voting Rights Bill Collapses
Jan 20, 2022 1:18 AM CST

Voting Rights Bill Collapses

Manchin, Sinema won't vote to change filibuster rules

(Newser) - Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy collapsed when two senators refused to join their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate, the AP reports. The outcome Wednesday night was a stinging defeat for...

Obama: Nix the Filibuster, Pass Voting Rights Legislation

In first op-ed since leaving office, former president calls on Senate to 'do the right thing'

(Newser) - President Biden recently called for altering Senate rules if necessary to remove the obstacle of the filibuster so that voting rights legislation can be passed. Now, a big voice is joining in that same chorus. In what USA Today says is his first op-ed since leaving office in 2017, former...

Sweeping Roe v. Wade Decision? Not Roberts' Style
Sweeping Roe v. Wade
Decision? Not Roberts' Style
the rundown
May 16, 2019 11:15 AM CDT

Sweeping Roe v. Wade Decision? Not Roberts' Style

Analysts think his Supreme Court more likely to 'chip away' than overturn

(Newser) - As several states move to restrict abortion—including Alabama and now Missouri, per CBS News —the big question is whether these new laws will lead to a direct challenge at the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. But one common theme in coverage is that Chief Justice John...

Thousands Jam 'Bloody Sunday' Bridge

Huge crowd marks 50th anniversary

(Newser) - Thousands of people crowded an Alabama bridge on Sunday, many jammed shoulder to shoulder and unable to move, to commemorate a bloody confrontation 50 years ago between police and peaceful protesters that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A day after President Obama walked atop the Edmund Pettus...

How Eric Cantor Can Turn Around His Legacy
How Eric Cantor Can Turn Around His Legacy
OPINION
Jun 16, 2014 1:38 PM CDT

How Eric Cantor Can Turn Around His Legacy

Juan Williams thinks the Majority Leader should try to fix the Voting Rights Act

(Newser) - If Eric Cantor's story ends today, history will remember him only as "the highest-ranking Republican to suffer defeat in a primary," Juan Williams observes at The Hill . But Williams thinks there's a way Cantor can use his final days to rescue his legacy: He can revive...

NC Voter ID Law Runs Into Roadblock: the DOJ

Eric Holder to announce lawsuit today: source

(Newser) - North Carolina passed a controversial voter ID law in July, but if the Department of Justice has its way, the law—said to be the most sweeping of its kind in the nation—may never be enforced. The DOJ will file suit against the state today, a source tells Politico...

Obama Administration Sues Texas Over Voter ID

They claim it violates the Voting Rights Act

(Newser) - The Justice Department intends to file a lawsuit against Texas over a voter ID law that it contends violates the 14th and 15th Amendments, along with what's left of the Voting Rights Act. The government will essentially argue that the ID law is intentionally attempting to restrict minority access...

Hillary Slams Voter ID Laws
 Hillary Slams 
 Voter ID Laws 
Aug 13, 2013 7:41 AM CDT

Hillary Slams Voter ID Laws

Clinton gives a very candidate-sounding speech, say observers

(Newser) - The first speech by Hillary the 2016 candidate? The former secretary of state yesterday lit into voter ID laws springing up across the nation as well as the Supreme Court's decision in June to defang the Voting Rights Act, reports NBC News . The big quote in her speech to...

DoJ Fires Opening Salvo at Texas Over Voting Laws

Eric Holder wants state subjected to 'preclearance'

(Newser) - The Justice Department has made its first move since the Supreme Court struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act : Eric Holder said today that the department wants to require Texas to get federal permission before making any changes to voting rules . A motion asking a court to...

Texas Puts Voter ID in Effect After Supreme Court Ruling

Now that the Voting Rights Act can no longer stop it

(Newser) - Here's one tangible result from today's Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act: Texas is going to require voters to have photo IDs "immediately," says state attorney general Greg Abbott. “Redistricting maps passed by the Legislature may also...

Sharpton: Court Just Killed MLK's Dream

Voting Rights Act decision provokes outcry on left

(Newser) - "They just canceled the dream." That was Al Sharpton's reaction to the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act decision , which has provoked a full-on outcry from the left, from President Obama on down. Sharpton was perhaps the most vociferous. "Part of, at least half, of what...

Court Takes Ax to Voting Rights Act

Says Congress needs to change it

(Newser) - The Supreme Court dealt what looks like a mortal wound to the Voting Rights Act today, striking down the law's key enforcement metric. The court did not, as some had expected, strike down Section 5, which gives the federal government oversight over states and localities with a history of...

Biden Leads 'Bloody Sunday' Civil Rights March

Voting rights fight still going on, he says at Selma re-enactment

(Newser) - Joe Biden vowed to keep up the fight for voting rights as he led a re-enactment of the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march in Selma, Ala., yesterday. Biden is the first sitting vice president to take part in the annual march, which commemorates a march where voting rights...

High Court Looks Poised to Gut Voting Rights Act

Conservative justices sound skeptical it's still necessary

(Newser) - If today's questions from the conservative wing of the Supreme Court are any guide, the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 is doomed. In fact, writes Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSblog , expect a 5-4 decision in favor of striking down Section 5 of the act, one of its core provisions....

Supreme Court to Review Landmark Voting Law

Court will hear challenge to 1965's Voting Rights Act

(Newser) - One of the signature laws from the civil rights era may be significantly weaker at the end of this Supreme Court term. The justices decided yesterday to hear a challenge to a key component of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the law designed to ensure that minorities don't face...

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